Published: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 12:05 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, February 4, 2014 at 12:05 p.m.

Photo Galleries

Starting this fall, Forest Hills Elementary plans to offer a language immersion program that would let incoming kindergarten students study Mandarin Chinese. The program would be similar to the school's Spanish language immersion program, which parents and school officials say gives the students a "full brain experience."

Forest Hills Elementary decided to try to offer a Mandarin Chinese immersion program earlier this school year. Principal Deb Greenwood said she wanted to offer Mandarin Chinese because of the increasing number of people across the world who speak the language. About 20 percent of the world's population speaks Mandarin.

When she first talked to parents about the program, "it was the dads that said, 'Yes, I can see that in my business,'" Greenwood said. "It made sense to the dads right away."

The program would be offered to 20 incoming kindergartners who live anywhere in New Hanover County. Students would be taught entirely in Mandarin Chinese in kindergarten through second grades by teachers originally from China. In third through fifth grades, students would switch back and forth between Chinese and English each day. For example, if Monday's classes were taught in English, Tuesday's classes would be in Chinese.

To Forest Hills parents Julie Flynt and Stephanie David, who both have children in the Spanish immersion program, the language programs give their students a leg up in a world that's becoming increasingly more global.

David's daughters Maddie, a third-grader, and Sophie, a second-grader, have both been in the Spanish immersion program since they were kindergartners. When the family traveled to a Spanish-speaking country this summer, David said, her daughters found girls their age who didn't speak English and started chattering away.

Flynt has seen the same thing with her second-grade son, Ben. Ben and several of his friends in the immersion program get together each week with a Spanish graduate student from the University of North Carolina Wilmington to practice their Spanish.

When Flynt watched the group playing soccer recently, "I almost got chill bumps," she said. "All five of the boys were having conversations back and forth."

The Spanish immersion program, now in its fourth year, continues to be popular. Greenwood already has a waiting list of students who want to enroll in the Spanish program next fall.

So far, Greenwood has six students signed up for the Chinese immersion program. If she doesn't have 20 students signed up by March 1, the school won't be able to start the program.

Even if Greenwood isn't able to start the program this fall, she said she'd try again next year. She feels that language immersion programs make her students stronger.

"There is a confidence in our kids," she said. "They're used to challenges from the moment they walk in school."

<p>Ni hao, Forest Hills Elementary School: You're going to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese.</p><p>Starting this fall, Forest Hills Elementary plans to offer a language immersion program that would let incoming kindergarten students study Mandarin Chinese. The program would be similar to the school's Spanish language immersion program, which parents and school officials say gives the students a "full brain experience."</p><p>Forest Hills Elementary decided to try to offer a Mandarin Chinese immersion program earlier this school year. Principal Deb Greenwood said she wanted to offer Mandarin Chinese because of the increasing number of people across the world who speak the language. About 20 percent of the world's population speaks Mandarin. </p><p>When she first talked to parents about the program, "it was the dads that said, 'Yes, I can see that in my business,'" Greenwood said. "It made sense to the dads right away."</p><p>The program would be offered to 20 incoming kindergartners who live anywhere in New Hanover County. Students would be taught entirely in Mandarin Chinese in kindergarten through second grades by teachers originally from China. In third through fifth grades, students would switch back and forth between Chinese and English each day. For example, if Monday's classes were taught in English, Tuesday's classes would be in Chinese. </p><p>To Forest Hills parents Julie Flynt and Stephanie David, who both have children in the Spanish immersion program, the language programs give their students a leg up in a world that's becoming increasingly more global.</p><p>David's daughters Maddie, a third-grader, and Sophie, a second-grader, have both been in the Spanish immersion program since they were kindergartners. When the family traveled to a Spanish-speaking country this summer, David said, her daughters found girls their age who didn't speak English and started chattering away.</p><p>Flynt has seen the same thing with her second-grade son, Ben. Ben and several of his friends in the immersion program get together each week with a Spanish graduate student from the University of North Carolina Wilmington to practice their Spanish. </p><p>When Flynt watched the group playing soccer recently, "I almost got chill bumps," she said. "All five of the boys were having conversations back and forth."</p><p>The Spanish immersion program, now in its fourth year, continues to be popular. Greenwood already has a waiting list of students who want to enroll in the Spanish program next fall.</p><p>So far, Greenwood has six students signed up for the Chinese immersion program. If she doesn't have 20 students signed up by March 1, the school won't be able to start the program. </p><p>Even if Greenwood isn't able to start the program this fall, she said she'd try again next year. She feels that language immersion programs make her students stronger.</p><p>"There is a confidence in our kids," she said. "They're used to challenges from the moment they walk in school." </p><p><i></p><p>Pressley Baird: 343-2328</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @PressleyBaird</i></p>